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NEWS: 2004 MG14 and SportSkiff National Titles 27-31 December

Port Hunter 16ft Sailing Skiff Club recently conducted the 2004 MG14 and SportSkiff National titles. There were 20 entries for the MG14 title and 5 for the SportSkiff.

MG14

The fleets were hammered by strong southerlys and south-westerlys on days 2, 3 and 4 of the 5 day events, causing broken masts, sails and hulls.

The first race was sailed in a gusty north-westerly, with Sydney father and son crew of Tim & Nick Harrington sailing Garage Space recording a 16 second win from Feral, sailed by local father and son Roger & Morgan York with Gosford's Flame Boy, sailed by youngsters Nathan Hall & Jason Vila in 3rd place a further minute back.

Two races were scheduled for Day 2, however only one was completed due to the strong southerly winds that allowed less than half of the fleet to finish the first scheduled race. Feral handled the conditions best to record a 24 second win from Flame Boy and a disappointed >Garage Space who finished a further 30 seconds back after a capsize while leading.

The postponed Race 3 was eventually held on Day 3 with a gusty south-westerly that again troubled the fleet with many capsizing. Flame Boy showed some real speed to win by nearly a minute from Gecko, sailed by Ashley & Jerrymay Banks, with Queenslanders Renee Linton & last years winning crew Robert Cordingly sailing Devil in a Blue Dress to an impressive 3rd a further minute back.

Race 4 was then sailed in a variable south to south westerly that changed markedly in strength and direction throughout. Devil in a Blue Dress picked a westerly shift on the first run to lead the fleet into the 2nd mark but could not hold a pack of boats to eventually finish 5th behind top 3 Feral, Grunt and Gecko who all finished within 5 seconds. Grunt was sailed by Jeremy Watson & John Palmer. Flame Boy had led before a capsize on the final gybe.

Day 4 saw a repeat of Day 3, with a morning south-westerly course before an afternoon southerly. Feral won again in Race 5 by 11 seconds from Flame Boy with Gecko a further 2 minutes behind

The wind still hadn't backed off as Race 6 got underway. Flame Boy eventually winning by 30 seconds from Gecko and Feral a further 35 seconds back.

Day 5 dawned with a light southerly greeting the remaining contestants. While the top 6 MG14s had all displayed potential, in the end it was between reigning champion Feral and the new and very fast Flame Boy. At the start of the last race Feral held a one point advantage over Flame Boy, mainly due to the consistency of the experienced Yorks in the high winds, but the mild southerly gave the young Gosford crew the opportunity to show off their superior boatspeed. At the finish they were over 6 minutes in front of a group of 6 boats who all finished within 25 seconds. Unfortunately for the defending champions Feral finished 4th to give Flame Boy a 2-point victory.